Smoking rate down dramatically, but new push underway

Saturday marked the 50th anniversary of the surgeon general's landmark report linking smoking to lung cancer in men. Public health advocates marked the anniversary with celebrations of progress - and calls to more action. Nationwide, the smoking rate has been more than cut in half since 1964.

Public health advocates marked the anniversary with celebrations of progress - and calls to more action. Nationwide, the smoking rate has been more than cut in half since 1964.

But a coalition of six major anti-tobacco groups announced a new set of goals Wednesday: lowering the smoking rate to below 10 percent in 10 years; protecting all Americans from secondhand smoke within five years and stopping tobacco-related disease.

Oneida County has its work cut out. The smoking rate in the county hovers at 24 percent, a sign to public health officials of progress made and of progress needed. Statewide, the rate is 16.8 percent. Nationally, it's 18 percent. Herkimer County's smoking rate is 21.1 percent.

"Cigarette smoking remains a threat to public health here in Oneida County," said Jesse Orton, public health educator with the county Health Department.

The health department will collaborate this year with area hospitals and other health care agencies to try to get more county residents into smoking cessation services, he said.

Youth smoking

On the positive side, smoking rates among youth in Oneida and Herkimer counties have fallen dramatically just in the past decade, from 26.3 percent in 2003 to 10.8 percent last year, said Heather Bernet, Reality Check's tobacco prevention team manager and youth action coordinator .

Every day, more than 3,800 youths younger than 18 start smoking, according to a 2012 surgeon general's report on tobacco use among youth and young adults. For every three young smokers, one will quit and one will die of tobacco-related causes, the report noted.

"But there is still a lot of work to be done," Bernet said. "The tobacco industry continues to spend billions of dollars every year to market their deadly products. The marketing is primarily found at the point of sale and mostly in convenience stores where teens shop. The more tobacco marketing youth see, the more they smoke."

An alternative

Some residents say they've found a way to improve their health without giving up nicotine by "vaping" electronic cigarettes.

Chris Ceffalia started using mostly e-cigarettes about four years ago when he started selling the battery-operated, tobacco-free devices online. Ceffalia, who has since opened the store Rome Vapors, doesn't make any health claims for e-cigarettes and advises his customers to talk to their doctors before trying them, he said.

He has seen a difference in his own health, though, he said.

"You can definitely breathe a lot easier," he said. "You can feel it after, I'd say, the first week or so. You can feel your chest start feeling a lot lighter."

But a cloud of controversy hangs over e-cigarettes. Advocates say smoking e-cigarettes keeps smokers from smoking, so some have touted them as cessation devices.

Page 2 of 2 - But none have been approved as cessation devices. And many anti-tobacco advocates remain skeptical, worried by the lack of research into their long-term health effects on smokers and bystanders. E-cigarettes have been found to contain known carcinogens, although it's not clear over whether the tiny amounts are enough to affect health.

The federal Food and Drug Administration has said it will regulate e-cigarettes as tobacco products, but has yet to move forward with the process.

One thing is clear: e-cigarettes are smokin' hot, with the number of users doubling between 2010 and 2011, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The number of youth vapers also doubled between 2011 and 2012, according to the CDC, a fact that has some anti-smoking advocates concerned.